


Much, Much Better Than He Can

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, a.k.a. "I just wrote the script for Descendants 3"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 14:17:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14262822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: "Treat You Better" by Shawn Mendes is the score on which we lay our tale, where Evie and the advent of romantic feelings for her best friend fight to open Mal's eyes to the miserable reality of her relationship with Ben.





	Much, Much Better Than He Can

**Author's Note:**

> from an anonymous request on tumblr

At first, it was all very textbook. The classic case of Defensive Best Friend Syndrome, the standard overprotective thinking of  _"She is way out of your league; you'll never be good enough for her"_. Evie was Mal's best friend, and as decreed by Defensive Best Friend Syndrome, she was obligated to dislike any and all of Mal's boyfriends, potential or otherwise.  
  
And it didn't exactly help that Mal's boyfriend just so happened to be the son of a beast who'd locked the villains away like animals in a squalid prison. No, right off the bat, Evie didn't like Ben. She didn't like that starstruck look in his eyes when he shook Mal's hand after the villain kids arrived at Auradon Prep—with his girlfriend standing right there next to him, no less. Classy. She didn't like him always nosing around the VKs, asking how the day went, or more specifically, how  _Mal's_  day went. Very weasel-like of him. And even if it was under the influence of a love spell, she absolutely hated how he acted like a few weeks was enough time for him to know Mal inside and out, that he could "look into her eyes" and “tell that she wasn't evil”. Bullshit. The eyes were the windows to the soul, and Mal's soul was far too complicated to be read at just a glance.  
  
It was Defensive Best Friend Syndrome that rang the first warning bells in Evie's head, but as time at Auradon Prep passed, it became so much more than that.   
  
Mal was the one with hereditary dragon fire running through her veins, but it was Evie's blood that boiled at coronation, when Mal held up a hand with that silly ring on her finger and tears in her eyes as she announced to practically the whole freaking kingdom that Ben was the one that made her really, truly happy. Again, Evie called bullshit, and if she hadn't been raised as strictly and properly as she was she would've stuck a finger in her mouth and gagged right there. Mal didn't even know the kid. And Ben didn't even know her. Evie was smart, and what she saw that day was clearly their fearless VK leader being swept up by all the whims and bad judgement of a ridiculous first crush.  
  
Evie wondered if she'd still be as bitter if she hadn't been holding out some faint, barely-there hope that  _she_  might be Mal's first crush. And then Defensive Best Friend Syndrome was found to have quickly turned into Jealous Unrequited Attraction Syndrome. Flames of attraction that were only fanned by all the different ways Mal started to wear her hair. For Ben. The makeup she experimented with. For Ben. The flowing dresses and tight skirts she began to wear. For Ben. But it hit Evie after the initial haze cleared, after she got over herself and stopped daydreaming about Mal's ruby red lips and tight skirts.  
  
Ruby red lips and tight skirts were not Mal. Not the Mal  _she_  knew, at least. Evie just had to stop her one day, when she caught Mal on her way out the dorm room door in high heels and evening gloves.  
  
"M, what's with the couture?" Evie shook her head and laughed, as laughter—stunned and disbelieving laughter—was all she could manage in this particular moment.  
  
Mal looked down at herself, taking in her ensemble like she was seeing it for the first time.  
  
"Ben and I are going to the movies," she said with a shrug and a smile.  
  
Evie raised an eyebrow.  
  
" _This_  is a 'going to the movies' outfit? ...Must be some movie."  
  
"Well..." Mal faltered, trying to explain. "It's just that Ben is king now, and when he's out in public—"  
  
"He has to look his best," Evie guessed. "And so does anyone on his arm."  
  
Something about Evie's tone set Mal on edge.   
  
"...Come on, E. You know how it is, you like to dress nice too," her laugh was nervous. Strange, nervous was never a thing she once felt around Evie.  
  
"For myself, Mal. Not for anyone else. Not since I escaped my mother."  
  
"...Well, I—"  
  
Evie faked a smile. She didn't know why. Patting Mal's hand, trying as hard as she could to keep the gesture from coming off as condescending, she wished her a good time on her movie date.  
  
But that was the trouble with keeping up appearances. It started out innocently enough, but where it ended up...was a far less innocent territory. Evie was unfortunately very well acquainted with what was going on here. The hair, the makeup, the nice clothes, the prim daintiness, it all spelled one thing—Mal wasn't good enough. The Mal she really was wasn't good enough to be seen draped on the king's arm, to attend the parties and the balls and the council meetings. So he took her and dressed her up like his little doll, hand-picked the evening gloves and the high heels himself. Ben had appearances to keep, after all. And Mal, with her ripped jeans, her purple nails, her studded boots, was not in keeping with Ben's agenda.  
  
But in coming from The Isle, Evie was also well acquainted with misery. Misery was exactly what came to be constantly painted on Mal's face when she too began to realize what was being done to her. For months Evie watched her become something unrecognizable in clean, crisp whites and pretty pastels. She bowed and curtsied and pulled her hair too tight, and all the while absolutely hated each and every second of it. Except for when Ben was around, then she'd force a chipper smile.  
  
Evie laid in bed the night Ben dropped Mal off after a date. She saw the smile, the strained thing stretching Mal's cheeks, until the door shut. And Evie saw how the smile instantly faded when Ben was no longer around to see it. How Mal let out a sigh.  
  
_I won't lie to you._  
  
"Mal, what are you doing?"  
  
Mal hadn't even realized Evie was awake, even with her endtable lamp on. She whirled around, startled, like a criminal caught in an act.  
  
"...Evie? What are you talking about?" Mal lifted a foot to start taking off her pumps.  
  
"What are you doing with  _Ben?"_ Evie clarified, sitting up.  
  
Mal laughed, nervously. Like the same criminal fumbling for an alibi.  
  
"What do you mean? We went out to dinner."  
  
"I'm not talking about tonight. I'm talking about in general."  
  
Evie really couldn't tell if Mal was genuinely lost, or just acting lost.  
  
"What are you asking, Evie? He's my boyfriend. What do you mean what am I doing with him?"  
  
Mal shook her head as if shaking the question away entirely before walking over to her bed and tucking her shoes underneath.  
  
_I know he's just not right for you._  
  
"Ben is the  _last_  person you should be with. A king, Mal? Really? You ended up with him and all of a sudden the baddest girl on The Isle is one of the prissy pink princesses she hated so much."  
  
Evie knew that look. The defensive pout, the hardened eyes. An argument and an attitude waiting to happen.  
  
"Well I'm not on The Isle anymore, am I?" Mal stiffly said.  
  
"And don't you wish you were?" Evie countered. "Everytime you squeeze into a pair of heels, or eat at some high-class restaurant where the fancy food really doesn't even look all that different from food back home, don't you wish you were you again? Mal of The Isle, daughter of Maleficent, with your eyes flashing green and your fingers curled into fists?"  
  
"...Poetic, Evie," Mal's laugh was mocking, jeering. A tiny shred of who she used to be, a ghost rearing its head just the slightest. "But  _this_  is who I am."  
  
Mal spread her arms wide, showing herself off for Evie's benefit.  
  
The Evil Queen never approved of glowering. An unattractive gesture, leading to wrinkles. In the past, Evie would sometimes let a glare slip, just to get a point across, but here and now, a proper glower served her purposes better.  
  
"A prissy pink princess," she coldly said.  
  
"Ben's girlfriend!" Mal corrected. "Why are you suddenly making such a big deal out of me and him? We've already been together for three months."  
  
_And you can tell me if I'm off, but I see it on your face, when you say that he's the one that you want._  
  
"You've been miserable for three months. Ben's making you change."  
  
"He's not...he's not  _making_ me change," Mal faltered just the slightest as she sat down on the edge of her bed. "I'm changing. I'm trying to be good."  
  
"For yourself? Or for him?"  
  
"There's nothing wrong with changing for someone, E. Especially if it means changing from bad to good."  
  
How strange for Mal to suddenly draw the wisdom card. Evie didn't even think she played with that deck.  
  
_And you're spending all your time in this wrong situation, and anytime you want it to stop..._  
  
"...Let me know when my best friend comes back, okay Mal?"  
  
Sharp words. Sharp tongue. Hurt twisting the gorgeous features of Mal's face.  
  
"Evie..."   
  
It was late, and Evie was done both listening and arguing, simply clicking off her lamp and drowning the room in darkness. Rolling over in her bed to turn her back on Mal and close her eyes.  
  
They both let that night drop from memory in the two weeks that passed, but Evie wouldn't let the sentiments drop, not with Mal straining herself with towers of books on etiquette, history, royal protocols and procedures, all of it  _on top_ of things like schoolwork and Goodness essays and math tests. Evie picked up one such book one afternoon while a visibly frazzled Mal sat at the desk and brushed up on her history, struggling to commit things like birthdates and titles and extensive family trees to memory.   
  
"...You know, according to this, when you're with Ben you're technically not allowed to walk into a room before he does?" Evie casually mentioned, thumbing through pages as she stood over Mal.  
  
"...What?" Mal must have missed that little bit of information, it broke right through her studying reverie.  
  
Mal of The Isle once charged in wherever she liked with sure steps. Mal of Auradon couldn't charge anywhere with her wobbly stiletto heels and Ben's status holding her back.   
  
"You're going with him on his tour of the kingdom next week, right?" Evie went on, eyes still down on the book. "Do you know how to hold a teacup right?"  
  
"Yeah, with my fingers," Mal grumbled, a bit like her usual self. "What, is there supposed to be a  _wrong_  way to hold a teacup?"  
  
"If your middle finger isn't on the bottom of the handle with your thumb and index on the top, then yes. You leave on Sunday, M. Guess you've got some more studying to do," Evie said, snapping the book shut.  
  
Mal groaned, burying her face in her hands, so overwhelmed. Evie softened at the sight of her, damn it all, Mal was still her soft spot.  
  
"...Did Ben even ask if you  _wanted_  to go with him? Miss all this school to curtsy and shake the hands of all the people who left us stranded on The Isle for sixteen years?"  
  
"I'm his girlfriend, E. I have to go with him."  
  
"I'll take that as a no," Evie sighed. "M, call me crazy, but ever since coming to Auradon I've been under the silly impression that being someone's girlfriend doesn't make you obligated to do anything."  
  
"It's different with Ben," Mal raised her head. "He's the king, and—"  
  
"And I'm a princess!!"  
  
Finally, after months and months, Evie lost it. Her cool, her composure, her control over the little voice in her head that told her to just keep her mouth shut and wait for Mal to come to her senses.  
  
"My mom is a queen, and that makes me a princess!" she continued. "And sure, maybe it's just a superficial title, maybe I have no real status in Auradon, but if you were with me, you wouldn't have to follow the rules and the etiquette and the archaic, backwards attitudes!"  
  
_I know I can treat you better...than he can._  
  
Mal froze. Had she heard that right? With a frown furrowing her features, she turned around in her chair to look up at Evie.  
  
"...What do you mean 'if I was with you'?"  
_  
And any girl like you deserves a gentleman._  
  
"...Ben isn't right for you," Evie drew herself back, really realizing what she'd just let slip and trying to dance around actually admitting any feelings. "He's changing you, dragging you around, not paying attention to who you really are inside. Ben doesn't like you, he likes some made-up idea of you that he has in his head."  
  
Mal was no Evie, but that didn't mean she wasn't smart. She could read context clues.  
  
"...But  _you_  like me," she quietly said, frown now confused as she tried to make sense of what she was hearing.  
  
Evie had very much felt fueled by fire when it came to her and Mal, brave and bold fire that was unafraid to scream just how she felt and just what she wanted.  
  
Now, suddenly, she was nothing more than an ember, flames doused by water and dying in plumes of gray smoke. Did Mal really need her to say it? Evie didn't think she could.  
  
"...I can't remember the last time I saw you smile, M.  _Really_ smile, not that fake smile you show off for Ben so he won't have a reason to ask you what's wrong. He fell for you under a love spell, and even though the spell has worn off, the Mal he thinks he knows isn't the Mal you really are. The Mal I know likes purple, not pink. Sometimes her laughter is cruel and mocking, but mostly it's soft, soft and genuine and never forced. And the Mal I know loves her cozy Auradon bed and spends her nights happily snuggled under her blankets, not sitting at the desk and almost driving herself to tears trying to cram rules and regulations into her head."  
  
_Tell me, why are we wasting time on all your wasted crying when you should be with me instead?_  
  
Mal didn't know what to say, or what to do. Evie and this huge revelation just loomed over her. So she stood up, a show and a gesture to at least attempt to stand on equal footing, her head spinning and trying to figure out how any of this could be real. Evie was her best friend. She was Evie's. That should've been it, that was  _supposed_  to be it.  
  
"...You have to get all dressed up in corsets and skirts and heels just to go to the movies with Ben," Evie shrugged sadly. "You and I could have movie nights in our pajamas, fighting over the popcorn and stealing each other's candy, not worrying about who might be flashing a camera on you and how you'll look in the papers the next morning."  
  
_I know I can treat you better...better than he can._  
  
It was just too much for Mal. The books, the etiquette, how to hold a teacup and how to walk into a room and Evie's heart right there in front of her, Evie's eyes pleading and longing in ways that Mal had never seen before. She had to go, and she didn't even preface it with an "I have to go". She simply left, brushing past Evie and right out the door without a single look back.  
  
And honestly? On Evie's scale of Mal's possible reactions to finally hearing her best friend's feelings, storming out of the room without a word truly ranked as a best case scenario.  
  
Naturally, she didn't see much of Mal after that. Mal of Auradon ran away from her problems where Mal of The Isle used to grab them by the shirt collars and threaten them into submission. But neither of them had a choice come Saturday afternoon, when Mal had to pack for her trip around the kingdom and they were forced to be in each other's presence for an extended period of time. Evie had work to do at her sewing machine, concentration and focus broken by the way Mal packed slowly, clearly hesitant, her head and heart not in it at all.  
  
_I'll stop time for you.  
_  
"...You don't have to go, Mal."  
  
Evie's voice suddenly took the place of the steady "taktaktaktaktak" of her sewing machine.  
  
"You can just stay here," she said.  
  
_The second you say you'd like me to._  
  
Mal wouldn't look at her, and kept her eyes down on her suitcase, part of the far too fancy luggage set Ben had gifted her with especially for the trip.  
  
"You mean stay here with you," she corrected.  
  
Evie wasn't sure she liked her questionable tone.  
  
"Yeah? Why do you make it sound like such a bad thing?"  
  
"Because I have a boyfriend and you have a crush on me!"  
  
"...I'm your best friend, Mal. Not just the girl who has a crush on you," Evie's glare was more out of hurt, not hate. "All I'm saying is that I can see you watching the clock, dreading having to leave tomorrow and put on a show for the royals. You and I could be here, watching tv or drawing or sitting out on the lawn doing our homework the way we always do. And you could have a break from the princess act, let Ben go off and be the diplomat while you just stay and be Mal."  
  
_I just wanna give you the loving that you're missing..._  
  
Mal zipped her suitcase shut with rough yanks of the zipper, the inside only half-full and her packing nowhere near finished.  
  
"You and I both know that you don't want me to stay here and just be your best friend. You don't feel that way about me anymore," she argued.  
  
"Just because I like you doesn't mean you're not my best friend!" Mother would never approve of a raised voice, but Evie didn't care, refusing to quiet down as she went on. "I'm not lying to you Mal; yes, I would love for us to have dates and dinner and be something more, but unlike Ben, I'm not going to force you into something you don't want to do."  
  
_Baby, just to wake up with you...would be everything I need, and this could be so different._  
  
"...It sounds nice, doesn't it?" Evie asked. "Not being forced into something."  
  
Mal either couldn't, or wouldn't give an answer as she dropped down heavily on the edge of her bed.  
  
"You don't have to lie to me either, Mal. I know you don't want to go on this royal tour."  
  
It felt like an eternity before Mal said something.  
  
"...No, I don't," she murmured, gazing down at her hands.  
  
"You know when Ben says things like 'you have to do this', 'you have to do that', he's full of it, right? He may be king, but you aren't his queen, there are no laws or rules that say you 'have' to do anything. And even if there were, since when are you such a law-abiding citizen?"  
  
"...Since I chose to be good," Mal whispered.  
  
"...M, there's a difference between being good, and being obedient. And Ben? Ben is just taking advantage of the fact that you can't tell one from the other yet."  
  
Evie stood up, leaving her sewing machine and abandoning her fashion creation for a later time.  
  
"Think about that on your trip," she requested, crossing the dorm room and opening the door. "And let me know how you feel about it when you get back."  
  
_Tell me what you want to do._  
  
_'Cause I know I can treat you better...than he can._  
  
Evie sat alone in her room and watched it all in the week and a half that followed, the televised tour of Mal and Ben's journey through Auradon. Cameras and microphones and questions alike shoved into their faces from stop to stop, Ben grinning easily and soaking it all in with an arm around Mal's waist. Mal, who huddled uncomfortably against his side, stressed and strained by the attention, the lights, the noise, all while Ben was oblivious to her silent plight.  
  
_And any girl like you deserves a gentleman._  
  
Evie didn't care how at odds they were, how stressed and strained their own relationship was. After days of it, she couldn't take that look on Mal's face anymore; the unease and torture shining through the tv screen, the way her eyes always darted around like a small, frightened animal desperate to find an escape, and the pain that came when she realized there was nowhere to run where the cameras and strangers and questions couldn't find her. Evie called her. Late at night, when she was sure the cruise with Ariel and Eric had ended and Mal had been allowed to retire to her room at the seaside palace.  
  
"How are you doing?" Evie softly asked.   
  
She didn't need an answer, it was all too easy to keep tabs on Mal with news crew after news crew trailing her and Ben, but she wanted Mal to have the chance to speak for herself for what was quite possibly the first time all week. Only Mal didn't speak when she answered her phone and heard Evie's voice.  
  
She burst into tears.  
  
And Evie almost did too, for listening to Mal sit and cry into the phone was not an easy thing to do.  
  
"...I know, Mal. I know," she said soothingly over her best friend's tears.   
  
_Tell me, why are we wasting time on all your wasted crying when you should be with me instead?_  
  
"I just want to go home," Mal cried.  
  
"You will, soon," Evie gently promised.  
  
Evie no doubt would've grabbed a car or a horse, or hell, even a pair of rollerblades just to race across the country to get to Mal's side and bring her back, but here and now, all she could do was sit and reassure.  
  
_I know I can treat you better...better than he can._  
  
And Evie started watching the clock the way Mal had watched the clock before she left, counting down hours and minutes and seconds until Mal would return to Auradon Prep and be safe and sound in her own bed.  
  
_Better than he can._  
  
But the Mal that returned to Auradon Prep was different from the Mal that left it. Exhaustion on her face, in her body, eyes red with what was either lack of sleep, or tears, or both. Evie knew that Mal. It was the same Mal that she would see back on The Isle after a long, long confrontation with Maleficent. The same Mal who would seek Evie out and fall at her side, looking for shelter and comfort and caring not about just letting herself break in her best friend's presence.  
  
_Give me a sign..._  
  
"...I can't do it, Evie. You were right all along, this isn't me."  
  
Mal had dropped her suitcase down on the floor the very moment she walked into the dorm and went straight for her bed, collapsing onto it as that exhaustion finally broke her. Her voice was weak, almost hoarse, as if from crying or shouting or  _screaming_  at Ben to just stop and listen to what  _she_  wanted and needed for a moment, screaming in vain as Ben posed for the cameras and flashed a smile, keeping up his appearances the way he was expected to.  
  
Evie, heart skipping a beat at that weakness in Mal's voice, came right over to her, settling in beside her on the bed just like they used to do on The Isle, lacing their fingers together so Mal could finally have that sense of someone being there for her, listening to her, not just slapping a fancy outfit on her and parading her from castle to castle like a prized possession.  
  
_...Take my hand, we'll be fine._  
  
"E, what do I do?" Mal desperately asked, searching out Evie's face and never taking her eyes off her.  
  
Evie's answer was simple.  
  
"You have to tell him goodbye."  
  
"...What??"  
  
It was the exact answer that Mal was looking for, but still, somehow, she was shocked to hear it.  
  
"Mal, it's the right thing to do."  
  
_Promise I won't let you down._  
  
"I'm...I'm the king's girlfriend, Evie. Walking away and leaving him behind won't stop any of this. I'll still be on the news, in every magazine, talked about through the  _entire_  kingdom for months or even years to come!"  
  
"So let them talk," Evie firmly said, squeezing Mal's hand. "They've always talked. Before you were 'the king's girlfriend' you were 'the girl from The Isle'. Before you were 'the girl from The Isle' you were 'Maleficent's daughter'. They've always talked about you, they've always talked about me, and Jay, and Carlos, and all the rest of us. But you and I never cared or let it get to us because we didn't need their whispers and their gossip, we had each other. And that hasn't changed."  
_  
Just know that you don't have to do this alone..._  
  
"...Some things have changed," Mal insinuated with a sniff, watching how tightly Evie's hand held hers.  
  
Evie got the hint.  
  
"Okay, fine. So how I feel about you has changed. But what hasn't is what you are to me. My best friend. Mal. The girl I will always look after and always be here for no matter how she feels about  _me._ M, you could marry a prince tomorrow, and as long as he made you happy I'd be right there, clapping and cheering and throwing the very first handful of confetti."  
  
_Promise I'll never let you down._  
  
"...I just want you to be happy," Evie softly repeated.  
  
_'Cause I know I can treat you better...than he can._  
  
"...I want to be happy too," Mal's voice sounded choked with tears again, the very same way it did over that phone call.  
  
"Then if Ben isn't doing it, you have to leave him behind. Because he'll always have tours, and council meetings, and royal dinners to sit through. Mal, he'll always be king more often than he is your boyfriend."  
  
_And any girl like you deserves a gentleman._  
  
"...He will, won't he?" Mal realized with a start. "...But you'll always be Evie."  
  
"Yes. I'll always be Evie."  
  
_Tell me, why are we wasting time on all your wasted crying when you should be with me instead?_  
  
_I know I can treat you better...better than he can._  
  
Evie was expecting the knock when it came days later. She was expecting Ben to be out in the hallway when she opened the door, and there he was. Eyes hard, but demeanor polite, and controlled. Keeping up appearances, even after all was said and done.  
  
_Better than he can..._  
  
"Hi, Evie."  
  
His nod was stiff. Evie didn't return it. Ben moved slightly as if he was making to invite himself in, but Evie wouldn't budge from her spot in the doorway, resigning him to the hall.  
  
"Hi Ben," she said back.  
  
Ben fiddled with the hem of his suit jacket, straightening out the already crisp lines—an act of anxiousness. Evie had become well-accustomed to seeing those on Mal.  
  
"...She told me everything," Ben said after clearing his throat, another anxious act. "About you, and...everything."  
  
So he was in the know. He knew that Evie liked his girlfriend, his soon to be  _ex_ -girlfriend, just as soon as he made the official announcement to the kingdom. As far as Mal was concerned, it was already over. But Ben was the one stuck with the etiquette, and the royal protocol. Ben was the one who had to make a "statement" to everyone while Mal was finally free to sit comfortably in her room and keep far, far away from it all.  
  
"I'll say something to the press, because it's what she wants, but I'm not giving up on her," Ben promised.  
  
"I think she specifically asked you to," Evie didn't disguise the hard edge in her voice,  _she_ didn't have appearances to keep, after all. "Mal doesn't want to be with you anymore, you can't keep chasing after her like this."  
  
"I can change," Ben insisted, standing tall and official like it would help his case any. "I can find a way out of the king stuff and spend more time with her."  
  
Evie just shook her head, irritated that Ben wasn't getting the point.   
  
"I still care, Evie."  
  
"I care too."  
  
In a far different way than Ben did, no doubt. Maybe he didn't realize it, or maybe on some deep, deep level, he did—he worried less about keeping the girl he claimed to care for and more about keeping what he saw as rightfully his. That prized possession, that beautiful doll he liked to show off and keep close to his side, the ideal image of the girl he saw in his head.  
  
"So what are we going to do about Mal?" he asked.  
  
One suitor to another. That's all it was to him. Ben only saw this dilemma with the archaic, medieval mindset of a royal.  
  
"...You see Ben, that's the trouble with you. You think something has to be done about her in the first place."  
  
_Better than he can._  
  
Evie was all too happy to close the door in his face, even as Ben reached a hand out to try and hold it open, still fighting a fight he had clearly already lost.  
  
"But I don't understand, Evie! What makes you and I so different to her?"  
  
Part of her didn't want to indulge him the answer, and just longed to shut the door on him and leave him in the dark. But another part of her took some small sense of pity, and decided to impart one last piece of Evie wisdom in the hopes that the next girl who came to his side wouldn't have to suffer through Mal's same fate.  
  
"I can treat her better than you can."  
  
The click of the door snapped Mal out of it, brought her out of the bubble she'd locked herself in on her bed to safely tune out the conversation taking place between Ben and Evie.  
  
"...Thank you, E," she sighed heavily. She had known Ben wouldn't be letting this drop anytime soon, and was expecting that knock on the door just the same as Evie was.  
  
"You're welcome," Evie walked across the room and climbed up next to Mal on the bed, settling back against the pillows.  
  
"I can't keep going around in circles with him anymore, he just doesn't get it."  
  
"No, he doesn't. But that's his loss, M. Not yours. And at any rate, it's the best friend's job to scare away the boyfriends."  
  
Mal chuckled. A laugh. Something neither of them had heard in a long time.  
  
"And Mal...please don't think that I'm going to try and pick up where Ben left off. Yes, my feelings are still there, but I'm not going to act on them just because you're 'fair game' or some barbaric nonsense like that," Evie actually looked disgusted at the thought. "Especially when you don't feel the same way about me."  
  
It was funny, Mal thought. The princess with no status was more of a prince than the actual royal was.  
  
"...Someday I might," Mal admitted with a shy smile, looking over at Evie. "You never know."  
  
Evie smiled back, eyes sparkling.  
  
"You never know," she agreed. "So, I say we  _finally_ turn off this stupid news channel and treat ourselves to a movie night."  
  
"In our pajamas?" Mal hopefully asked, still wearing a frilly dress and mightily uncomfortable in it.  
  
"In our pajamas," Evie nodded.  
  
"Fighting over the popcorn and stealing each other's candy?"  
  
"I'll go get the popcorn."  
  
Evie didn't leave without giving Mal a hug, and Mal wouldn't let her leave without returning that hug in full. And as Evie left the room with a promise to be right back, Mal understood. Like lights clicking on in the darkened corners of her mind and illuminating all for her to see. It was something she'd known ever since life on The Isle, but simply forgotten in the chaotic whirlwind of Auradon and Ben and flimsy infatuations formed under a love spell spiraled far, far out of control.  
  
Evie could treat her better than he could. And Mal had said that someday she might return the feelings that her best friend held for her. It wasn't such a farfetched idea, after all, anything could happen in Auradon and in life. There was once a time when a cruel and wicked Mal was dead-set sure that Evie would never be her friend, so she would be a fool to say that they'd never be anything more. Someday, she might return Evie's feelings.  
  
And maybe, just maybe, that day would come sooner than they thought.


End file.
